Collapsible vessel for atmospheric motors.



. w. No. '729,926.' PATENTED JUNE 2, 1903. W. M. FULTON.

GOLLAPSIBLB VESSEL FOR ATMOSPHERIC MOTORS.

APPLiOATION FILED NOV. 21, 1901.

no MODEL.

mz mums PETERS cu, PHOTO-LITHLI,WASHINGTON, ale.

UNITED STATES Patented June 2, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

v l/VESTON M. FULTON, OFKNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 729,926, dated June 2,1903. Application filed November 21, 1901. Serial No. 83,178. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Wnsron M. FULTON, a resident of Knoxville, Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Collapsi 'ble Vessels for Atmospheric Motors, which invention is fully set forth in the following specification.

My'invention relates to atmospheric mo tors, and more particularly to collapsible vessels which respond to variations in atmospheric temperature or pressure or-to varia-.

tions of both temperature and pressure, the

movement of the collapsible vessel due tothese causes being utilized to impart movement to a motor. V

Heretofore many efforts have been made to construct a collapsible vessel which will offer but slight resistance to any force or forces In order to the wall of the vessel which is connected to the vessel.

ble vessels as heretofore constructed are open to the further objection that they respond too readily to slight atmospheric changes, and thus reach the limit of their range in volume before the limits in variations of atmospheric conditions are reached. Thus suppose the vessel to have collapsed to its minimum limit at temperature 15 and pressure p and that the pressure remains constant while the temperature rises to (t-I-w) degrees. Now if theload be light and thevessel very flexible the latter will expand to its greatestlimit. If now the temperature continues to rise and remains .for some time above (t-l-oc) degrees, the motor to which the vessel may beattached will remain idle during the entire time that the temperature thus remains above (t-l-m) degrees, since the vessel has reached the limit of its expansion. The ideal condition is that the vessel shall so respond to atmospheric changes that it will reach its limit of expansion or contraction just when atmospheric conditions have reached the limits within which they usually fluctuate.

A still further objection to those collapsible vessels which, like the Japanese lantern, present sharp angles in the folds of the material of which they are constructed lies in the fact that such sharp-angles result in lines of wear and ultimate cracks, which destroy the usefulness of the vessel.

One of the objects of the present invention is to construct a collapsible vessel of the character referred to whose changes in volume due to atmospheric variations shall take place along the line of one of the dimensions of the vessel.

A further object is to provide a collapsible vessel whose limits of expansion and contraction shall correspond as nearly as possible to the limits within which atmospheric conditions of temperature and pressure fluctuate; and, finally, the object of the invention is to provide a collapsible vessel which shall be free from sharp angles or folds resultingin premature Wear and cracks.

With these objects in view the invention shallow annular corrugations, which while permitting the vessel to expand or contract in volume in a longitudinal direction are stifi enough to prevent any yielding of the walls, so as to allow any increase or decrease'of volume in any other direction. In some instances the upper and lower surfaces of these annular corrugations are also provided with minute corrugations, so as to stiffen said surfaces and prevent them from yielding except in the desired direction. It is to be understood, however, that these lastmentioned corrugations may be omitted, if desired.

The invention further consists of a collapsible vessel whose changes in volume take place along the line of one of its dimensions, combined with a spring or springs whose tension acts along the same line and tends to resist contraction and aid expansion or aid contraction and resist expansion of the vessel. The spring or springs may be of such dimensions as to resist contraction or aid expansion, or vice versa, throughout the'entire range of said movements or only through a portion thereof,as may be deemed most expedient,and the vessel itself may be the corrugated form of collapsible vessel herein described, or any other preferred form maybe employed in connection with the spring or springs above mentioned; and, finally, the in vention consists in a collapsible vessel with yielding corrugated walls, the corrugations being struck on curves and free from sharp angles.

In addition to the above the invention consists in certain details of construction which will be hereinafter described and then pointed out in the claims.

The inventive idea may receive various mechanical expressions, and the accompanying drawings are therefore to be understood as illustrative only.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section of one form of collapsible vessel embodying myinvention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section thereof on the line 2 2, and Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of a modification.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is a collapsible vessel having rigid end walls or plates 3 and 4t and flexible side walls 5, the side walls being composed of any suitable material, as sheet brass or steel, and provided with corrugations 6, which are of such dimensions in proportion of the thickness of the walls that the corrugations will be stiff enough to resist any tendency of the external atmospheric pressure to buckle them inward or of the internal pressure to buckle them outward, while the flexibility of the wall as a whole is such as to-permit the vessel to expand or contract in the direction of its length. In order to stiffen the corrugations 6 in a manner to pre vent the buckling above referred to, the surfaces of these corrugations may themselves receive minute corrugations 7, though these may be omitted, if desired.

Centrally secured to one of the end walls,

as 4, is a spring 8, provided with a cap-piece or abutment 9, secured thereto, to which is attached arms 10, extending along a portion of the length of the spring 8 and terminating in shoulders 11. The cap-piece 9, arms 10, and shoulders 11 may, if preferred, be in the form of a cylinder inclosing a portion of the spring and having at its open end an out- Wardly-projectingtiange. (Jentrallysecured ,to the opposite end 3 of the vessel is a part 12, preferably in the form of a cylinder, embracing the abutment 9 and having inwardlyprojecting shoulders 13. In operation the vessel 1 collapses without meeting any resistance from the spring 8 until the end wall 3 contacts with the abutment 9, after which time any contraction of the vessel which takes place will be against the tension of the spring 8, and, vice versa, the expansion of the vessel will be aided by the resiliency of the spring 8 so long as the abutment 9 engages the end wall 3. of the vessel, after which the spring will have no efiect. It will thus be seen that afterthe vessel is expanded to a predetermined point-that is, to the point where the abutment 9 is withdrawn from contact with end wall 3-the spring 8 is no longer under compression or expansion, and thereafter it is functionless till abutment 9 contacts with wall 3 or the bottom of cylinder 12. When it is desired, spring tension may be provided which offers continuous resistance to contraction and continuously aids expansion of the vessel 1, or vice versa. One mode of supplying such spring tension is shown in the symmetrically-disposed springs 14, here shown as threein number and extending from end wall 3 to end wall 4 of the vessel and engaging said walls at the apices of an equilateral triangle whose center is the center of the vesse1,so that the spring-p ressure is evenly distributed overthetwo end walls3 and 4. In case it is desired the spring tension acting continuously on both end walls of the vessel may be employed without the interrupted tension of spring 8, and in such case a single centrallydisposed spring 15, Fig. 3, may be used. In this figure a different form of collapsible vessel is shown. This vessel consists of two cylinders 16 17, one disposed within the other and having a common base 18, the space between the cylinders being filled with some gas-sealing material, as mercury, 19. A third cylinder 20, open at one end, of greater diameter than cylinder 16 and less diameter than cylinder 17, is inverted with its open end immersed in the mercury 19, thereby forming a gastight vessel capable of expansion and contraction in a longitudinal direction. As shown, the spring 15 is centrally disposed in the vessel and contacts with the opposite end walls thereof. While I have herein shown the various springs as located within the collapsible vessel, it is to be understood that the springs may be located without the vessel, the only essential being that the spring tension be so applied as to resist sion of which fluid under normal atmospheric conditions would just equal atmospheric pressure, then evidently there would be no strain on the springs 14 in eitherdirection. Nowit' the atmospheric conditions should so change as to cause the fluid within the vesselto expand, the springs 14, being secured to the walls 3 and 4, would resist the expansion of the vessel, and when the atmospheric conditions changed, so as to cause the contained fluid to contract, the springs 14 would aid contraction of the vessel till contraction had reached a certain point where the springs 14 are neither under tension of extension or compression, and below that point these springs would "resist contraction and aid expansion, the function of the springs 14 in any particular case depending upon whether the expansion fluid. within the vessel always remains above atmospheric pressure oralways remains below atmospheric pressure or is sometimes above and sometimes below atmospheric pressure. The true spirit of this part of the invention is that the spring or springs shall so control the vessel as to prevent it from collapsing to its minimum limit or expanding to its maximum limit before atmospheric conditions have reached their extreme limits and, further, to insure that the vessel shall give the greatest fluctuations in volume in response to those atmospheric changes which are of the most frequent occurrence and least fluctuations in response to those atmospheric changes of less frequent occurrence the exact action of the spring or springs depending to a large extent upon the character of the expansive fluid used in the vessel.

What is claimed is- 1. Ahermetically-sealed collapsible vessel,

having oppositely-disposed rigid walls connected by a flexible wall, which is composed of substantially parallel portions united by portions struck on a curve, whereby a flexible corrugated wall is formed, in contradistinction to a flexible angular wall made up of perforated disks united at their exterior and interior peripheries.

2. Ahermeticallysealed collapsible vessel, having oppositely-disposed rigid walls connected by a flexible wall, which is composed of corrugated portions approximately normal to the axis of the vessel and connected by approximately vertical curved portions.

3. A hermetically-sealed collapsible vessel having oppositely-disposed walls which approach and recede from each other when the vessel contracts and expands, a spring normally abutting one of 'said walls, and abut ting the other wall when the vessel is contracted but not when said vessel is expanded. 4. A hermetically-sealed collapsible vessel having oppositely-disposed walls which approach and recede from each other when the vessel contracts and expands, a spring nor mally abutting one of said walls, an abutment on the other end of said spring to which abutment outwardly-extendin g shoulders are secured, and corresponding shoulders supported on the opposite wall in position to abut said shoulders when the vessel contracts.

5. A hermetically-sealed collapsible vessel having oppositely-disposed walls approach ing toward and receding from each other when the vessel contracts and expands, a spring abutting one of said walls, and a cylinder supported on the opposite wall and surrounding a portion of said spring.

G. A hermetically-sealed collapsible vessel having oppositely-disposed walls approaching toward and receding from each other when the vessel contracts and expands, a contrallydisposed spring abutting one of said walls and having outwardly-projecting shoul-- 8. A hermetically-sealed collapsible vessel,

containing an expansive fluid, whose tension varies with changes in atmospheric conditions, combined with an expansible and contractile spring, having its ends secured to the walls of the vessel, one end being secured by a lost-motion connection and of such length that when the vessel is expanded to a predetermined point the spring is neither compressed nor expanded.

9. A hermetically-sealed collapsible vessel, having rigid end walls connected bya flexible wall-having a series of regulan curved, non-angular corrugated corrugations.

10. A hermetically-sealed collapsible vessel, having oppositely-disposed rigid walls connected by a flexible wall composed of a series of parts approximately normal to the vessels axis, and connected, alternate concave and convex portions.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WESTON M. FULTON. 

